


delight

by poutyongs



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, University AU, baekhyun is the lab TA!, chem lab stories, renjun and xiaojun make fun of yangyang a lot, some yanghyuck because they're so cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27678460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poutyongs/pseuds/poutyongs
Summary: “I’m Donghyuck, by the way. You said your name was Yangyang? Is that a nickname?”“Oh, no, it’s my real name,” Yangyang quickly replied, cursing inside his head at how stupid he sounded, “but I get that a lot.”Donghyuck smiled again, pulling out a couple beakers from his drawer, “well, that’s just because it’s a cute name."
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Liu Yang Yang
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	delight

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! i decided to write this little lighthearted fic featuring yanghyuck because they are so adorable and i love the way yangyang turns into a shy boy that's always laughing in front of donghyuck :')  
> fic title & chapter titles are from baekhyun's 2nd mini album, delight! <3 
> 
> dedicating this fic to hana, the sweetest donghyuck stan and biggest baekhyun lover.  
> ily!

“Your lab section changed??” Hendery asked, bewilderment clearly visible on his face, as he stabbed his boba straw through the top. “But we’re halfway through the semester.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Yangyang sighed, roughly throwing his tote bag onto the booth chairs, “I didn’t even know this was allowed. And I liked my TA too, she yelled at Xiaojun for dropping dry ice into a bucket by accident.”

Hendery almost choked on his boba. “Xiaojun did _what?_ ”

“Yeah, he dropped like four or five pieces of dry ice into a bucket where we were supposed to put water in,” Yangyang mused, his lips curving into a smile at the memory, “and he tried to carry it to the sink and dump it out but there was so much smoke and everyone was so confused.”

“Yeah okay, I wouldn’t want to leave your lab section either if Xiaojun’s in it. He failed that course last year because he skipped a question on his scantron for the final and got every single multiple choice after that one wrong,” Hendery noted, glancing at his lit-up phone. “Oh, Renjun’s coming in five.”

Yangyang nodded, sipping his boba and grieving at the loss of his lab section. His head suddenly shot up. “Wait, didn’t Renjun take this course last semester?”

Hendery raised an eyebrow, looking up for a split second from his phone. “Uh, yeah, I think so.”

Yangyang thought about this.

“Is he going to get boba?”

“Well, he’s coming to the boba store, so…”

“Okay. I’m gonna buy him his boba.” Yangyang said, determination flashing across his face, “and he’ll probably share his lab notes with me, right?”

“I don’t know his order, just saying,” Hendery remarked, “and I have no idea if he’ll do it.”

Yangyang rolled his eyes. “How are you gonna be a year older than me and still be absolutely _useless_ because you’re a social science student?”

Yangyang got up and made a beeline towards the counter before Hendery could say anything.

He glanced at the menu, wondering what he could get for Renjun. Renjun seemed like someone who would enjoy coffee, but not just any coffee - straight up _dark, bitter_ coffee, like an iced americano. But an iced americano with boba?

A bit questionable, but Yangyang shrugged, considering that he wasn’t the one drinking it. It’s the thought that counts anyway, right?

When he returned, an iced americano with tapioca in his right hand, Hendery eyed the drink suspiciously. “Black tea?”

“Um,” Yangyang muttered, realizing that black tea would’ve probably worked better, “iced americano.”

“I’m sorry what? Iced ameri-”

“Hey guys! God, I just had a psych midterm, and it had like 60 questions on it,” Renjun complained, placing his backpack next to Hendery and sitting down heavily. He blinked when he spotted the drink in front of him. “What’s this drink?”

“Yangyang bought it for you,” Hendery quickly said, avoiding eye contact from Renjun. He had to clarify that it was not him, but Yangyang, who bought this monstrosity of a drink.

“Oh really? Oh wow, thanks Yangyang!” Renjun said happily, flashing the boy a bright smile as he stuck his straw through the top. “How’d you know I like black tea?”

“Uh, actually-”

Renjun almost spat out his iced americano.

“Oh god,” Hendery groaned.

“I thought you would like iced americano, so I decided to get a bit innovative,” Yangyang explained, offering a forced smile.

“I come here after a long day for some sweet, refreshing boba and this is what I get?” Renjun asked grudgingly, grabbing Hendery’s strawberry latte and taking a sip of it for immediate relief.

“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t a good idea,” Yangyang said sheepishly, staring down at his fingers. “But uh, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing your lab notes? For orgo?” He looked up at Renjun shyly.

Renjun pretended to think about it, looking back and forth between Yangyang and the cursed drink sitting in front of him. “Well, you see…”

Hendery stifled a laugh.

“I’m kidding. Of course! I’ll send it to you tonight,” Renjun laughed, taking another sip from the iced americano with boba. “And you know what? This gets better with every sip I take.”

Hendery wasn’t laughing anymore. “You think that’s _good?_ ”

Renjun shrugged. “It was a bit surprising, but it’s not the worst. Anyway, Yang, why lab notes suddenly?”

Yangyang’s bright smile fell immediately.

“My lab section got changed, even when we only have two labs left - I don’t know why, but something about the numbers not working out.”

“Your lab section got changed?? But it’s March,” Renjun said, his eyebrows furrowing visibly underneath his soft pink hair, “that doesn’t make any sense. Yeah, the chem department is messed up, one of my friends has no lab partner this year which is like completely unfair.”

“No lab partner??” Yangyang asked, his face distorting into that of worry as he realized he was going to get paired with a new partner along with the switch of his lab section. “Wait, but I liked working with Jeno, he was so responsible.”

“Well, yeah, it’s Jeno. Isn’t he like the 4.0 student?” Hendery piped in, swirling his straw around his drink to fish out the last few pieces of boba.

“It’s fine, I’m sure you’ll get a good partner,” Renjun assured, taking another sip from his iced americano and giving it a nod of approval.

Yangyang wasn’t quite so sure.

\--

As soon as the lab doors opened, Yangyang navigated his way to his new assigned lab bench, making sure to scan the other students in his lab for any potential sources of help. So far, he recognized Jaemin, one of Jeno’s friends. He was well-known for his eccentric comments and actions attached to his good looks, but Yangyang didn’t know him personally yet. He also recognized Lucas, Hendery’s close friend - he had apparently changed his major in second year, so he was taking this course a year later. He could probably ask Hendery to connect him with Lucas if he needed help.

“Okay, if you’re here early, start reading what’s on the board,” a strict voice rang across the room, followed by a boy with fluffy brown hair wearing a flashy red lab coat walking right past Yangyang and towards the front. “Today we’re going to be doing recrystallization, although you should obviously already know that from reading the manual. I’m going to hand out the pre-lab quiz right when it’s 10 after, so be prepared for that as well.”

Yangyang gulped. _Uh oh,_ he thought nervously, _is that the TA? He seems really strict - way more strict than my last one._ Cursing his lab section change again, Yangyang quickly flipped through his lab manual and started reading the parts he highlighted for this lab, although none of the words were fully registering inside his mind. Students were flowing in, some chatting about the lab and others silently getting dressed in their lab coat, but the seat next to him was still empty.

Renjun’s voice echoed inside his head. _Yeah, one of my friends has no lab partner this year which is like completely unfair._ Yangyang silently laughed to himself, eyes nervously scanning the manual pages, _I mean, no way, right?_ He glanced at the clock, fidgeting with his lab coat sleeves.

2:09.

Whoever his partner was, that is if he even had one, was clearly not the most punctual person.

Then, as if a gust of wind hit him, a boy came flying into the room, dumping all his lab materials onto the seat beside Yangyang in a hurry. “God, I’m so late,” the boy muttered, shoving his backpack into the shelf under the bench and throwing on his lab coat.

It took him a while to notice the presence of the other boy.

“Huh?” The boy asked, when his eyes met Yangyang’s, his face clearly marked with confusion.

_Well, that’s not a very nice way to greet someone,_ Yangyang thought as he offered a small smile. “Hi, I’m Yangyang. I guess we’re partners from now on?”

“Oh, my partner?” The boy repeated, tilting his head to the side slightly, “that’s weird, I didn’t have one before, but-”

“Alright, I’m going to hand out the quiz now,” the TA interrupted, “you have 10 minutes.”

_Shit_. Admittedly, Yangyang had barely read the manual, staying up until 2 AM last night playing on his new PS5. His plan was to cram right before the lab, but with the lab section changes and everything, he wasn’t able to focus on any of the material.

“Good luck,” his partner whispered to him as he bent down, flipping the quiz over and carefully scrawling his name at the top of the page.

_Lee Donghyuck,_ Yangyang noted as he returned his eyes to his own page and put his name down as well. He quickly scanned the questions, praying that they weren’t too hard. _Question 1 is alright, I think I can bs it… question 2? Oh, okay, that’s the one thing I know how to do. Question 3? I think I can answer this through the process of elimination maybe. Question 4 -_

And he had no idea what to put for question 4. Yangyang felt panic wash over him, trying to recall any piece of information he could to answer the question. He carefully answered the other questions first, not failing to notice the way Donghyuck had already put his pen down. _He’s done? Already?_

Once he got to question 4, Yangyang nervously bit his lip, tapping his fingers quietly on his paper in nervousness. _What was the formula for this equation again?_

All of a sudden, Donghyuck picked up his pen again and flipped the quiz over, angling the page so that it was suspiciously close to Yangyang. He pushed the page closer to him, making the answer for question 4 swiftly enter Yangyang’s line of sight.

Yangyang glanced at Donghyuck’s answer, a neatly scribbled “28”, and he hesitantly wrote the same number down on his own page.

Donghyuck flipped his page back to the empty side after Yangyang put down the answer.

“Alright, pass it to the person on the right of you, and then we’ll take it up quickly,” the TA announced, collecting the quizzes in a quick manner.

When Yangyang handed Donghyuck his quiz, Donghyuck looked up at him, his round brown eyes sparkling, and winked at him briefly before turning around and handing the stack of quizzes to the TA.

Yangyang stared at the lab bench, replaying the wink over and over again in his head. _Why did-_

“So the answer for question 1 is that the two layers will separate, and 2 is multiple choice option B, the benzene ring. Question 3 is A, amphipathic, and question 4 is 28. If no one has any questions, we’ll move on to the actual lab.”

“Yes!” Donghyuck whispered, pumping his fists in the air, as Yangyang stood there carefully processing what just happened. Donghyuck turned to him, a mischievous smile painted on his face. “So you’re my lab partner from now on, right? No need to thank me for the quiz just now, just my big brain helping a fellow orgo-er in need,” he said smugly, putting on his goggles over his bright, golden hair, “I’m Donghyuck, by the way. You said your name was Yangyang? Is that a nickname?”

“Oh, no, it’s my real name,” Yangyang quickly replied, cursing inside his head at how stupid he sounded, “but I get that a lot.”

Donghyuck smiled again, pulling out a couple beakers from his drawer, “well, that’s just because it’s a cute name. So since we’re lab partners now,” he started, organizing the beakers on the bench, “good luck working with me. I always get in trouble by Baekhyun - oh, that’s our annoying TA - because I’m doing some weird thing I’m not supposed to.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” Yangyang replied nervously, choosing to ignore his dumb response as he quickly reached into his drawer to pull out his beakers. _Did he just call my name cute?_ “I’m not the best orgo student either.”

“Huh,” Donghyuck remarked, “you seem like you’d be a 4.0 student though.”

Yangyang stifled a laugh at this.

Noticing Yangyang’s small smile, Donghyuck continued. “Well, I bet you at least didn’t get 0.1% yield for the solubility lab. I had to scrape off the smallest piece of powder and try to convince Baekhyun that this was my result.”

Yangyang laughed at this, wondering how it was even possible to get 0.1% yield.

“It’s fine. I might seem like an idiot, but I got a 100 on the last lab report,” Donghyuck reassured, smiling wide at Yangyang’s laughter, “so you can trust me, I promise.”

“Yeah, okay,” Yangyang agreed, grimacing at how dry his responses were - _what is wrong with me today?_ \- although his smile refused to leave his face.

“Well, let’s get to it then!” Donghyuck said excitedly, as he accidentally poured the entire bottle of hydrochloric acid into one of his test tubes. “Oh, uh-”

Yangyang burst out into laughter again as Donghyuck tried to hide the test tube from Baekhyun’s sight.

“Donghyuck, what are you doing?” Baekhyun asked, a hint of exhaustion radiating from his voice, “again?”

“Uh, nothing, sir!” Donghyuck said, turning around and hurriedly walking to the acid waste bin, dumping out the materials of the test tube immediately. “See? Nothing.”

Baekhyun sighed, shaking his head. “That’s another mark off from lab performance for you. Sorry you had to get paired with him,” he said, turning to Yangyang, who was still busy laughing.

Yangyang decides that this isn’t that bad after all.


End file.
